Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette – Meh or Must Have?

Let me start off by saying, I am a huge fan of Urban Decay’s Naked palettes. I don’t own them all because I have always been a lot more selective when it comes down to choosing which ones I actually add to my collection due to their hefty price tag. I did manage to pick up 2 of the new Naked Heat palettes during UrbanDecay.com’s limited early release (more on that to follow) despite the mixed opinions expressed by others & the less than stellar swatch photos circulating. Mainly because I love the packaging, the colors of the shadows themselves (spoken like a true makeup collector/hoarder) & mostly out of curiosity.

See, I’m the type of girl that has to see for myself ALWAYS! I don’t give too much weight to what other people say about most things… I always want to see what I think of things for myself, especially if it’s something that I can always return if I am dissatisfied.

So, even though I have almost every other warm neutral palette in existence, I went ahead & ordered it. I was actually excited to try this because after all, it IS Urban Decay we’re talking about here & there has to be something to make this particular warm neutral palette spectacular, right?

Performance-wise, the palette was great. I made a concerted effort to use as many of the shades as I could on Instagram Live, even using the shadow called Ember to pat over my liquid lipstick, so that I could see how they performed/multi-tasked. I didn’t see any problems with pigmentation or blending & there was minimal kick up when I stuck the brush in the shadows, but no actual fallout on the face during application or blending.

I feel comfortable saying the palette definitely performs well. I have no qualms with the palette’s packaging or performance & it’s definitely worth the $54 price… IF you’re a collector OR if you don’t have a slew of the previous warm neutral palettes that have been released by other brands since warm neutrals became the “hot” new trend.

It is also worth noting that I had to pull in a shade from another palette for an inner corner highlight as there was no light shimmery shade in the palette. Not a deal breaker for me, but I know that not everyone likes palettes that they feel they can’t get a complete look out of.

Unfortunately, I don’t think is palette is a MUST HAVE. I think it’s just MEH. Urban Decay is EXTREMELY late to the warm neutrals game & with consumers trying to be more conscientious of where their money is going as evidenced by the rapid rise of the Anti-Haul trend, it’s such a shame that Urban Decay waited so long to jump on board the warm neutrals palette train.

I don’t see anything anywhere indicating that the palette itself is limited edition at the time I am writing this either, so there is no need to feed into the urgency these new releases usually make us feel. It’ll always be there should you ever finish the Morphe 35O OR the ABH Modern Renaissance OR the Huda Beauty Textured Shadows OR hell, even the Makeup Geek x Manny MUA from way back when is chock full of similar orange-y warm neutrals. If anything, wait for the Sephora VIB/VIB Rouge sales or urbandecay.com’s friends & family sale & pick it up then.

Here is the finished look. I ended up adding some of the Urban Decay glitter liner in Midnight Cowboy for some added sparkle.

*Please follow my instagram @makeup_by_mala to see more looks using this palette

**I will be doing a giveaway that includes this palette, among other things, please subscribe so you don’t miss the opportunity to participate!

***I am not including swatch photos on this post, because I feel that there are already an abundance of swatch photos already circulating. However, I’d be more than happy to swatch them should anyone like to see them, just let me know.

Any time, Sasha! If you’re even half the hoarder I am, then you probably have these colors or super similar ones in your collection. There’s definitely no rush to get it. I’d definitely prefer to have spent those $54 elsewhere.